


Heir

by SoDoRoses (FairyChess)



Series: LAOFT Extras [42]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Bittersweet, Dot-Centric, Gen, original character death, poor poor dot, the bitter is not proportional to the sweet WAY more bitter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:24:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FairyChess/pseuds/SoDoRoses
Summary: You break or you bend.





	Heir

**Author's Note:**

> for this prompt on tumblr from @trivia-goddess:
> 
> "Dot meets Roman for the first time, and Abby meets Thomas and Logan"
> 
> as well as this one, also @trivia-goddess:
> 
> "what happened with Dot’s brothers once she adopted Logan?"
> 
> and this one from a nonnie:
> 
> “Idk if you even take/are still taking laoft prompts but a good one would be Logan and Thomas’s parents and their relationships with Patton/Roman/Virgil”
> 
> (sorry for this one, its mostly roman and not Patton and Virgil)
> 
> you are almost certainly going to want to deck May Gage in the fucking face after reading this

“I want a baby,” Abby said one day, breaking the dead silence.

Dot inhaled sharply, choking on her ice cream, and she raised her eyebrows dubiously.

“You want a _what?”_ she exclaimed.

“A baby,” Abby repeated firmly, “I want to have a baby,”

Dot didn’t answer, staring. She was half-waiting for a punchline.

It didn’t come, and Abby’s firm expression wavered.

“Okay,” Dot breathed, “I- I don’t know how you’re gonna swing that, Abby, but if that’s what you want,”

Abby’s shoulders gentled, and Dot immediately felt bad.

“I’m sorry,” said Dot, “It didn’t – you were so vehement about never getting married, it didn’t occurred to me you’d want… I shouldn’t have assumed,”

Abby smiled.

“There’s all kinds of ways to have babies, I don’t need a _husband_ for that,”

Abby said the word “husband” like most people would say “root canal.”

“They’re not a disease,” said Dot dryly.

“We’ll agree to disagree. Except, Larry, Larry doesn’t count,” said Abby.

“What do I not count for?” said Larry, sliding into the booth across from Dot and affectionate shoving Abby into the corner while she squawked in protest.

“How terrible of a concept husbands are,” said Abby, “Though you are doing your damnedest to change my mind apparently,”

Larry gave Dot a soppy look across the table, and Dot giggled in response.

“Gross,” said Abby, but she was grinning, so Dot felt pretty safe ignoring her.

“Why were you discussing husbands, AKA Abby’s least favorite topic under the sun?”

“Oh, I’m having a baby,”

Larry didn’t miss a beat, beaming.

“That’s great! Dot, we’re gonna be aunts! Wait, no-”

Abby snorted so hard root beer float came out of her nose.

“Larry, your foot-in-mouth disease is acting up,”

“Dot, darling, Abby’s being _mean_ to me,”

Dot just smiled into her sundae and let the sound of Abby’s ribbing and Larry’s protest wash over her.

—

Dot’s nails were bitten to the quick, and Larry looked slightly nauseous. They’d both thought this was a stupid idea, but trying to change Abby and May’s minds once they were made up was like trying to knit clothes out of steam.

What was this, the eighteen-hundreds? Who still had _home births_?

But when May had called them and told them to come meet the newest Gage, she hadn’t _sounded_ upset, so it obviously must have gone okay.

Still a stupid idea though.

Dot hadn’t knocked on her way into May Gage’s house since she was about ten – she opened the front door, and Abby grinned up at her from the couch instantly, and snuffling bundle in her arms.

“He’s so cute,” she said without preamble, gleeful and almost manic-looking, “You’ll never beat me out on cute kids, Dot, he’s perfect,”

Dot snorted, crossing the room to sit by her. Larry sat on Abby’s other side, looking equally curious and wary.

Abby tilted the mass of blankets, and Dot got her first good look at him.

“His name’s Roman,” cooed Abby, “Roman Joshua,”

“He is cute,” said Dot fondly, “Goodness, Abby, is he supposed to be that small?”

Abby cackled.

“Yeah, sugar, he’s normal baby size. He’s seven pounds,”

Dot wiggled her fingers in front of his face, and the baby squawked, flailing and grabbing ahold of it.

“Oh,” said Dot, a little lump in her throat, “Oh, goodness, Abby, he is just too cute,”

“Told you,” said Abby smugly.

Roman blinked then, squinting his little unfocused eyes at the room around him, and Dot cocked her head, a little confused.

“He’s got your eyes,” she said, a little baffled.

“He sure does,” said Abby.

“No, I mean-” Dot leaned in a little to get a better look at him, “His eyes are green,”

“…Yeah? What do you mean?”

“I thought all babies had blue eyes?” said Dot.

Abby went so still that Dot almost recoiled, but when she turned her head she was smiling and Dot thought she must have imagined it.

“Mine were green when I was born,” she said, “Must just be a Gage thing,”

She turned down to look at Roman and cooed.

“He’s just special,” she crooned, “Aren’t you special?”

Roman squawked again.

“Sassy, too,” said Larry.

“Well, that goes without saying,” said Abby.

“Can I hold him?” said Dot.

“Silly question,” said Abby, still baby-talking, “Yes, yes, Auntie Dot asked a silly question, didn’t she Roman, do you wanna snuggle with Auntie Dot?”

“You’ve gone insane,” said Larry flatly as Abby moved Roman over into Dot’s hold.

“Happily,” said Abby.

“Hello,” said Dot, booping the little thing’s nose, “Lookit you. So very cute,”

Roman whacked her finger and Dot snickered.

“Definitely sassy,” she said.

“Well, he’ll need it to keep up, won’t he?” said May, coming around the corner of the couch with a pitcher of tea.

“Somehow I don’t think he’s going to have any trouble,”

They played ‘pass the baby’ for long enough that Roman started to fuss. When Dot and Larry left, they shut the car doors and sat in silence for a solid five seconds.

“We’re gonna have a kid, aren’t we?” said Larry.

“We’re going to think this through like… rational grown-ups and not rush into anything,” said Dot firmly, “But, um – probably, yeah,”

“Glad we’re on the same page,” said Larry, grinning at her across the gear shift.

“_Larry,_ stop smirking,” she giggled, shoving him on the arm.

He didn’t, but neither did she, so she couldn’t really hold it against him.

—

It was a stupid fight, frankly.

May and Abby had been offended Dot had gone to a hospital to have Thomas. They’d pressed even after Dot had told them to drop it, and she’d gotten mad, and-

But it didn’t matter. Dot called Abby, and she said it was an emergency, and Abby was there in less than fifteen minutes.

Roman was chewing happily on a ring of rubber keys, and squealed happily when he saw Dot.

“Annie, Annie, Annie!”

“Hi, honey,” said Dot, her voice shaking.

“What happened?” said Abby, trying to keep her voice level, “Is Thomas okay?”

“Yes,” said Dot, “Just. Just come here,”

Roman continued to babble nonsense as Abby followed Dot into the nursery.

Abby looked over at Larry, who was bottle-feeding Thomas in the rocking chair, her expression plainly worried. She hiked Roman up higher on her hip.

“Dot, sugar, you’re freaking me out, you said Thomas was-”

She cut off abruptly. She’d seen Logan in the crib, quiet and mostly still.

She was quiet for a long time, and Dot held her breath.

“… Dot,” Abby said, strained, “Larry, Dot, what…what did you _do_?”

“He’s a baby,” croaked Dot, “He’s a baby, and she _left_ him, in a stranger’s house, in another baby’s crib-”

Abby shook her head.

“Dot, this- this is insane. You understand this is insane?”

“Could you trade Roman?” Dot demanded, “For _anything?”_

Abby said nothing.

“He deserves better than _that,_” said Dot, desperate to make her understand.

Abby blew out a long breath.

“Take Roman,” she said quietly.

Dot did, and Roman looked up at her through his floppy hair and patted her on the cheek. She hadn’t even realized she was crying until he did it.

“Okay, okay,” he mumbled.

“Thank you, Roman,” she said.

Abby had crossed the room, looking down into the crib. Logan looked back, _really_ looked, in a way no newborn should. Abby shook her head, and Dot tried not to feel like she was going to have a breakdown.

“What did your brothers say?” Abby asked, and she watched Logan with an unreadable expression as she spoke.

Dot laughed a little hysterically.

“Yeah, I’ve been, uh- my status as a Galloway might have been revoked,”

Abby bit her lip. Dot knew Abby understood what it meant – Larry’s grandfather had been dead for years, and would hardly have been excited about a changeling for a great-grandson.

The Sanders were running just a little short on family.

“… What’s his name?” said Abby.

“Logan,” said Larry softly.

Abby paused, and then she nodded, once, deliberate and firm.

“Alright,” she said, “Can I hold him?”

Dot relaxed so much she was briefly concerned her knees might give out.

“Yeah,” she choked, kissing Roman’s hand when he patted her face and tried to soothe her again in his little toddler way, “Silly question,”

Abby cast Dot a smile over her shoulder and then reach in to lift Logan out of the crib.

“Hey, little guy,” she said, “You’re gonna be a handful but you can’t be worse than Roman, right? Can you? Oh, you’ve got pretty eyes, doncha?”

She brought him over, smiling at Dot in that way she always did right before the three of them did something incredibly stupid.

“Baby!” shrieked Roman, and when Larry came over with Thomas his little eyes went to little perfect circles.

“Two!” he said, wiggling happily, “Two babies!”

“Yeah, sugar, two babies,”

“I hold’a baby!”

“No, Roman, you’re too little,” sniffed Dot.

“Eh, I don’t know,” said Larry, “If we hold _him_, I mean-?”

“He faceplants when he tries to run, we’re not giving him an infant,” said Abby dryly.

“I hold’em! I hold’a baby!”

“You can sit next to the babies while we hold them on the couch, how about that?”

This seemed to satisfied Roman, and after some child-maneuvering he settled in Abby’s lap on the sofa in the living room with the new parents and the infants on either side of them.

“Hi, baby,” he said and leaving an exaggerated “mwah” of a kiss on the top of Thomas’s head. He turned and said the same to Logan with another little kiss, and Logan sneezed in response.

“Zoon-tight!” chirped Roman.

“_Gesundheit_,” said Abby fondly.

“I like’em!” Roman said.

“Me too,” said Dot happily, “I’m glad you like them,”

Dot didn’t know what she was doing – but then again, Abby had made it very clear she didn’t really, either.

And between the three of them, well – Dot had managed some pretty spectacular stunts with her sweetheart and her best friend over the course of her life.

_Just one more,_ she thought, _How hard can it be?_

—

Dot knew Roman couldn’t actually read – but playing pretend, he excelled at. And Logan, at just over twelve months, clearly had no idea the story Roman was reciting had nothing to do with the one written in the book they held/

Thomas didn’t quite have the attention span for Roman’s tendency to play storytime. He’d stay for a few minutes, but then he’d wander off, distracted by other toys or his own imagination.

But Logan would sit himself on Roman’s crossed legs and listen to whatever story Roman made up for as long as Roman felt like speaking. Roman had been absolutely ecstatic when he’d successfully gotten Logan to turn a page.

But by far the cutest result of these reading marathons was when Logan fell asleep, and Roman did nothing except switch to a slightly lower volume and set his little head on top of Logan’s.

“Aun’ie Dot?” he called, “Where’s Momma?”

“She went to the grocery store. You didn’t wanna stop reading to Logan, remember?”

“S’dark, though,”

Dot looked out the window a little warily. It was getting dark, and Abby had been gone for quite a while. Normally she liked to have Roman back at her house and well on his way to asleep by now. Dot had already taken Thomas into the nursery, but she hadn’t had the heart to separate Logan from Roman, especially when he was already asleep anyway. It was getting late enough that Dot was probably gonna have to put them both down regardless, and hope Roman didn’t wake up and cry when Abby took him home.

“Probably just traffic, Roman,” said Larry.

“Wha’s ter-affic?”

“Too many cars,”

Logan whined and twisted slightly in Roman’s lap. Roman looked instantly regretful and kissed him on top of his head apologetically.

“Why not jus’ go ‘round?”

“No idea,” said Larry, “Makes much more sense, doesn’t it?”

Someone knocked on the door, three times and just a little too loud. Dot and Larry both froze, and Roman perked his head up. Logan stirred, but he didn’t wake up.

“Abby doesn’t knock,” said Dot.

Dot went to the boys, and Larry crossed the room to open the door.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dot spat immediately.

May didn’t answer. Next to her was Wickhills lone policeman, Kevin Lemaster, and he looked about as apologetic as Dot had ever seen him.

“Mamaw!” Roman exclaimed immediately, loud enough that Logan startled awake with an irritable noise. Something cracked in Dot’s chest.

“Logan, tha’s my mamaw!” Roman said, and Logan rubbed a fist in his eye as Roman helped him to his feet. “C’mere, c’mere,”

“No, Roman,” said Larry immediately, and Roman paused. Logan was still holding Roman’s hand, and he peeked around the older boys shoulder with an unusually wary expression for a toddler.

May looked at them both, and her expression was unreadable.

“I’m here to get Roman,” she said.

“The hell you are,” said Dot.

“Dot,” said Kevin, “C’mon. Don’t make me have to be the bad guy here,”

“What are you talking about?” said Larry, who still hadn’t opened the door enough for the two of them to get in, “If Abby finds out we let May Gage walk off with her son she’ll skin us and you,”

Kevin shuffled awkwardly, and he couldn’t seem to look Larry in the eye. May hadn’t moved at all.

Dot felt like her blood froze in her veins.

“Where’s Abby?” she said. She didn’t recognize her own voice.

“Dot,” said Kevin quietly, “Not in front of the kids,”

“No,” she said instantly, “No, no, _no__nono_,”

“Dorothy-” started May.

“_No!” _Dot snapped, “You- you-”

“Aun’ie Dot?” said Roman, reaching up to pull on her shirt, “Wha’s goin on? Why’re you cryin?”

“Roman,” said May, “You gotta come with me now. I’ll tell you in the car,”

Dot felt like the roof was caving in. She felt like her lungs were full of concrete. She wanted to hide and she wanted to plant herself between May and Roman and she wanted to scream and she didn’t know what to _do-_

“Come on. Now, baby,”

“Don’t,” Dot said. Begged.

May set her jaw, and didn’t answer.

“Am I goin’ with Mamaw?” said Roman, looking up at the two of them.

Dot couldn’t speak, and eventually it was Larry who answered him.

“Yeah, buddy,” he said, “C’mon, let’s… let’s get your coat,”

Larry shut the door, and when Kevin had protested he’d gotten only a vicious quip from Larry that he could have some damn patience in response.

Larry helped Roman into his shoes, and his puffy red jacket, while Dot stood with a silent Logan clinging to her calf. When Roman was dressed, he smiled up at her and held out his arms for a hug, and he squeaked when Dot kneeled and squeezed him too tight.

“Kisses!” he said, pressing a sloppy kiss to Dot’s cheek. He stooped to plant one on Logan’s cheek along with an enthusiastic hug.

“See ya t’morrow!” he said, and Dot just tried to smile around the cloying lump in her throat.

Larry took Roman by the hand and led him out onto the porch. The door shut behind him, and Dot didn’t look, and she didn’t follow.

—

She called.

And she called again, and again, and she left voicemails and she begged and she screamed and nobody ever picked up and nobody ever called back.

And on the day she called only to get a disconnected line, Dot shattered the phone against the wall.

—

_Ten years later_

Dot had watched Roman hug Logan from nearly thirty feet away, and Logan hesitate for just a moment to respond, and she’d thought she couldn’t feel any worse.

And then Roman had looked over Logan’s shoulder and waved with a smile Dot _knew_, and shouted, and called her “Mrs. Sanders” and she knew it hadn’t even come close.

She went through the car ride and talked to her boys almost on auto-pilot, barely holding herself together. Thomas and Logan both went down into the basement, and Larry followed her silently into their bedroom.

She sat down on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

“Mrs. Sanders,” she said woodenly.

“Dot,” said Larry, quiet and so, so gentle.

“Mrs- Mrs. Sanders, he called me, like I’m a stranger-”

“Dot, darling,”

“Oh, god, I _a__m_ a stranger,” she said, the tears finally spilling over, her voice coming out on a strangled sob, “He doesn’t know me, he doesn’t know me at all-”

Larry pulled her head into his chest, stroking her hair, his own breath coming out unsteady and thin.

“How could she?” choked Dot, “How could she do this?”

“Dot,” whispered Larry, his voice ragged, setting his cheek on top of her head, “There’s nothing-”

“Did you see Logan’s _face_, he _knows._ I don’t know how, but he must remember something and she took them away from each other, from _us,_ how _could she-”_

“There’s nothing we can do,” said Larry thickly, “It’s done. We can’t change it. And look at them- very first thing they did was find each other,”

“They never should have had to,” said Dot.

Larry didn’t say anything. Dot didn’t even know what she’d want him to say if he did.

—

Roman, Logan and Thomas stood in a little half circle on the front lawn; Roman chattered away, his hands gripping their sleeves, and Dot remembered a babbling toddler pretending to read to to a pair of infants and felt the concrete in her chest begin to chip.

May was standing next to her, watching them, but she didn’t look like Dot felt – relieved and heartbroken and joyful all at once. Dot didn’t actually think she’d ever seen a face hold quite so much regret.

“I told you,” said Dot, “That I accept your apology,”

May hummed in acknowledgment.

“I do,” said Dot, calm and quiet enough she knew none of the boys, even Logan with his ears that picked up every little noise, would be able to hear. “For them. But I do _not_ forgive you,”

May nodded.

“No,” said May, “Didn’t think ya would,”

She didn’t wait for an answer, just started her way down the steps, and Roman immediately rushed to help her, his face bright and adoring.

He didn’t understand – not really. He’d heard the story, but he hadn’t really comprehended it. He didn’t realize everything May had taken from him.

He smiled up at Dot on the porch, and she knew she wasn’t going to tell him.

It was done. What good would it do, to explain it to the three of them? Make them hate May, maybe – but Dot didn’t want that. She’d hated May for years. It took a lot out of you, and it didn’t help. It didn’t change anything.

“I do mean it, Roman,” said Dot, and she thought she did an admirable job of keeping her voice from shaking, “You can come over whenever you want,”

Roman’s smile seemed to grow, impossibly, wider.

“Thanks!” he said, “I will!”

And that? That would have to be enough for now.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm also [ tulipscomeinallsortsofcolors ](tulipscomeinallsortofcolors.tumblr.com) over on tumblr!


End file.
